Have chair, will travel

The Ides of March came two weeks early for one misfortunate water recreationist who had to be rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard after he drifted out into Boundary Bay after dark on Monday, February 28. Residents on Elizabeth Drive called 911 after hearing a man out on the water below calling for help.

Point Roberts fire department dispatched to Bayview Drive and initiated Unified Command which alerted U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Delta police and fire departments, the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and Whidbey Naval Air Station. The latter dispatched a rescue helicopter which was called back after the CCG hovercraft and the CBP boat arrived on the scene.

According to fire chief Christopher Carleton, fire personnel at first believed the individual was on or near the Maple Beach mile marker but their thermal imagers were unable to detect any body heat. Three individuals, a woman and two males, had earlier self-dispatched from the Canadian side in personal watercraft to look for the man and returned with mild cases of hypothermia after he was rescued.

After performing a grid search, personnel aboard the hovercraft found the man adrift, floating in an inflatable chair, dressed in three layers of clothing with heavy construction boots on. He was brought aboard the vessel, stripped of his wet clothing in a hypothermic state. He showed no signs of intoxication and provided no details as to why he chose to go to sea in an inflatable chair.

The Canadian male was transferred on shore to waiting Point Roberts EMTs where warming efforts continued; he was eventually transferred to a Delta ambulance. “It was very strange,” said chief Carleton. “We have no idea what possessed him to do what he did.”

The following day, the fire department was called out once again for a water rescue after a kite surfer was unable to inflate his kite. The man ended up drifting ashore north of the border. The average water temperature of Boundary Bay and Georgia Strait in February is around 44 degrees Fahrenheit.